I just upgraded my Dell to windows 8 because I just recently bought my computer and at the time windows 8 was not out yet. I've upgraded my computer and I have no DVD/CD drive detected. I cannot use my CD/DVD drive on my computer at all. Nothing is showing up, what's up with that? This is the drive that came with my computer so why can't I use it? I put a CD/DVD into it and nothing happens. I go into my computer and there is absolutely no CD/DVD drive detected. What do I do now? I need my CD/DVD drive to work. What I can do to make it work? Again, this is a new computer Inspirion 660S now running windows 8.

I recently just upgraded to windows 8 and notice that my media card reader is not working. My usb works fine but when I try putting in my memory card on the slot, nothing happens. Is there a program I have to download or a driver??

I have the Dell Studio 1458 and i have Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64, When I try to install the video card which is: ATI Readeon Mobility HD 5400. I got Errors that say "there was an error when trying to install driver" (on devmgmt.msc).

On my other pc's vista and win 7 while the computer is booting I can tap f12 to get into a temp boot page (for running live cd's and such). I cannot find this option on my dell 660 running win 8, how I can get to the temp boot screen?

Dell XPS 12 running Windows 8 x64. Had it for about six weeks, and I had two problems I with it:

- every so often (maybe once a week), when I would turn it on, instead of booting into my normal startup screen, it would say 'Preparing Windows', then boot into, like, a generic account with none of my programs or files or anything... shutting down and restarting fixes that problem. A little annoying, but no big deal.

- every so often (maybe twice a week), I I'd shut it down, and I'd get the BSOD, with 'SESSION_HAS_VALID_POOL_ON_EXIT' given as the problem. I bit of Googling seemed to reveal that this was a fairly common issue with Wi8 on this particular machine, so I never worried too much about it.

I'm describing these problems because they might shed light on the NEWEST problem, which is as follows:

Did a Windows 8 update yesterday, and today I discovered that when I turn the machine on, I get 'To skip disk checking, press any key within 1 second' at the Dell startup screen... I didn't press anything, but it didn't seem to go into disk-check, booting normally into Windows instead. I tried to do a disk check, and right away, it told me 'Windows has found problems with your disk', telling me I had to restart to fix them... so I did, and got the same 'To skip disk checking...' message, followed by an immediate boot into Windows instead of any disk checking. I tried to do a system restore, thinking one of the updates might be causing the problem, but when I try to do a system restore, it tells me that I have to run check-disk first (but every time I do, I get the same routine I just described above).

"Your TPM is currently running in Legacy mode. If you'd like to use TPM application for this version of Windows, Please contact your administrator."

Now I have clear TPM once. Disable and enable it in BIOS still no change. I am using UEFI bios and secure boot is enabled. How can I enable TPM coz I need to encrypt my hard drive without TPM it is a very hard thing to do.

I have a Dell Inspiron 7537 running Windows 8 64bit. 8GB RAM, i7 processor. A little while ago it suddenly shut off. I went and checked the event viewer and got the info below. I think Toaster.exe is Dell's Backup and Recovery software, is that correct?

I am trying to install a graphics card in my desktop pc. The heat sink on the card blocks the SATA port that the DVD drive is plugged into (SATA1) so I've switched the DVD drive to SATA2. The drive is now showing as connected to port2 in the BIOS, but in windows (Windows 8 64-bit) it isn't detecting the DVD drive at all? I've seen other posts about this on the internet suggesting to add a line to the registry, but I've done that and it doesn't solve the problem.

I successfully managed to create a virtual hard drive on my external drive to try boot windows 8 off it. I managed to boot it up and the login screen also appears as normal. I have a successful login, But on the second time login I am faced with black screen and the cursor. I'm aware that Microsoft has released a fix for this. I have attached the executable in the zip. I tried running this fix but it didn't work . After the black screen appears, even in safe mode I cannot run explorer.exe or open any folder to try running any executable files

My (12-year-old) son's computer won't boot. It's a Dell Inspiron 17" running Windows 8, bought from Costco in July 2013. When I turn it on, Dell logo comes on and then in upper left it says "Checking Media [fail]", then "checking media" again, then "No Boot Device Found. Press any key to reboot the machine". I insert a USB recovery drive (it was made for my Toshiba that runs Windows 8.1, but it should work anyway, right?).

I choose US keyboard layout and it then opens into Recovery Environment. I choose Troubleshoot → Refresh Your PC. Message appears "The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again." I go to Troubleshoot → Startup Repair, which runs and then says "Startup Repair couldn't repair your PC." I then go back to Troubleshoot → Command Prompt and run chkdsk on Windows drive (c). It says "Windows has checked the file system and found no problems." Dell would probably tell me it's a hard drive failure and tell me to buy another one.

My internal multi card reader has been working fine for just under a year but just recently it has stopped recognising SD cards. When I insert a card it normally opens an explorer window but now it does nothing and does not show in file explorer.

Though if I click on .. file explorer/manage/disk management .. it then opens an explorer window for the card.

I have the setting in autoplay - memory card and removable drive set to open explorer.

Brand new Dell 8500 XPS running Win 8 64 bit with IE 10. I transferred my favorites from my Win VISTA machine using Easy Transfer which caused the lost of many IE Fav Icons. Sometimes when I click on a favorite the icon will show up and some won't even though they are present on my Win VISTA machine.

Is there away to restore those Fav Icons which are supposed to be there? I realize all websites don't support the Fav Icons.

I have installed windows xp pro on a separate partition on my hard drive , i am already running windows 8.1 on my c drive the problem is when i boot up i only get the option to boot into windows 8.1, windows xp does not appear in the boot menu, i installed windows xp on my spare partition to run some older programmes but when my pc boots up it boots straight into windows 8.1 there is no option to boot into windows xp.

As Windows to Go is only available for ENTERPRISE versions and booting from a VHD requires there to be an OS already installed on the physical machine I was wondering if we could "Borrow" a trick from Linux.

Is it possible to install a Mini GRUB boot loader on a partition on an external HDD and on a second partition boot a Windows system.

Note here -- I want a RUNNING WINDOWS SYSTEM -- not an install / recovery / "Win PE" type system -- but a full Windows system that will work even if there is NO usable INTERNAL HDD drive in the computer.

Googling shows quite a few ways of either creating an INSTALL disk (HDD) or booting a VHD neither of which are what I want.

Using GRUB and booting an external HDD in theory should work -- and this should "almost replicate" a Windows to Go system.

(I've had an external USB Linux system with VMware player installed -- that method works but the Windows system is quite slow even on an external USB3 drive -- running a Windows system natively should be a lot better).

I've actually got a spare SSD which I want to use for this -- I replace a 128 GB drive with a new Samsung 256 GB drive as I got a great bargain on it -- 99 GBP LESS 20% VAT which I got back at customs at the airport.

I'll use the SATA==>USB3 connector for connecting to the PC.

(Another possibility might be to get the Linux boot loader to load a Windows VHD from the external drive as well -- but I want the Windows system to work even if there is NO INTERNAL HDD in the computer).

my dell inspiron 7520 running windows 8 on it but i have purchase a windows 8 pro and wish to install on it.

i delete all the partition inside hard disk, put in the disk and boot on it but a message pop up "The product key entered does not match any of the Windows images available for installation. Enter a different product key."

how can i solve it? how can i install windows 8 pro with the windows 8 pro key? can i delete the license key in BOIS?

Recently lost my mobo due to a power surge no drives detected dead screen. i have a SATA to usb and can see my drive, and data is in tact but when i try to boot in the new computer (system recognizes drive) i get a( to quick to read message) something about the pc i think the issue is the computer im trying to put this drive in is about 3 years younger than the computer the drive was running in. when i use the win 8 recovery on a flash it loops. while running the flash quick message about pc(it does read from the flash but then fails) i was able to use the flash to load 8 on a formatted drive(in this computer) worked fine. and will use as a last resort but would really like to, of course keep all my drivers and settings and software settings etc

I have a Dell Inspiron 660s desktop running Win 8. How large of a USB Flash Drive do I need to create a copy of the factory image? How large of a USB Flash Drive do I need to create a copy of the pre-installed applications, drivers and utilities? The only apps I have are the standard ones that come with the 660s running Win 8. Using Dell Backup & Recovery (Pro or Premium), I created a system backup on an external hard drive. This resulted in my external hard drive being partitioned into DBR_Master (F), which used 31.5 GB of the 1TB hard drive; and, DBR_Boot (G), using 23.6 MB. What is DBR_Master (F) all about? What is DBR_Boot (G) all about? In the event of an OS crash, will I be able to re-boot from the external hard drive? How often is it recommended to do a full system backup?

Since a system backup does not backup applications like MS-Office, is the purpose of periodic backups to capture future fixes & revisions to the OS? Since there is still a lot of unused space on the external hard drive, is it ok to save my daily data backups to the external hard drive? I tried to save data backups using File History to the DBR_Master (F) drive but it would not let me. I created a new folder in DBR_Master (F) but that didn't work. I receive a message that the destination was not connected. Where should I save daily data backups? Last question - does it matter whether I use File History or Dell Backup and Recovery to do daily data backups? Are there any advantages or disadvantages to using one over the other -- they seem to do the same thing?

I have an ASUS laptop running 8.0 which I am running with a second screen (dell monitor) connected via VGA. I have it set so the external monitor is the primary screen and the laptop is the secondary screen. It is set for a taskbar on each display, with the primary taskbar containing the shortcuts on the monitor, so when I click them they open there. It's been working fine for months.

So I switched it on today and my taskbar shortcuts have jumped to the taskbar on the second (laptop) screen, however my external display is still set as the primary and still has my desktop icons, trashcan etc but a blank taskbar (like the one that used to be on the secondary display)! When I click the shortcuts which are now on the taskbar of the laptop screen they open on the monitor. (ie the wrong screen) I disconnected the monitor, turned off the extended desktop and set it to just use the laptop screen. All my desktop icons moved to the laptop screen but the taskbar shortcuts vanished and I was left with a blank taskbar. If I plug the monitor in again and extend the desktop they reappear, but on the wrong screen. Even if I reboot without the external screen connected I get no shortcuts until I plug in the monitor and set it to extend the desktop. I have checked all the taskbar settings and they are all correct.

Windows 8 device (Dell XPS 12 i7 running Windows 8.1 Pro). I like the touch input when it is flat in tablet mode, but when I plug a USB mouse into it when I am at my desk, I want the mouse inputs to be treated exactly like finger inputs on the touch screen. For example, scrolling by touching/clicking anywhere in a window or the ability to flick things using my mouse like I can with my finger. Simply using the mouse makes everything behave like it did in Windows 7: Clicking and dragging selects things instead of scrolling in Office 2013. I don't want this, I want it behave like Android does when I plug a mouse into it: Just like a finger was there.

I have looked everywhere for such a setting, but I cannot find one. How can I achieve this? I want all mouse inputs to be treated exactly like touch inputs.

About 1-2 weeks ago, I had 15GB of space left on my SSD that is solely committed to OS and drivers. Today, I have 2.9GB left. I have downloaded nothing, and I have changed nothing. take a closer look at why my SSD space is disappearing? I've had this OS for 2 months now and it wasn't a problem until recently.

I have a new HP ENVY 700-147C with 12GB RAM running win 8.1 & I have a vexing problem; I can easily mount an iso file to virtual drive from windows explorer but I am not able to play it with PowerDVD or any other player.. It sees the virtual drive but it does not load the movie only the VIDEO & AUDIO_TS folders with the VOB files are seen.

However, PowerDVD will automatically play a movie on dvd disk when it is inserted into the player & it can play it from windows explorer by right clicking on the dvd drive & 1 of the choices is "Play with Cyberlink Powerdvd." When I right click a virtual drive containing an ISO file from my HDD, showing drive letter & title, just like the DVD disk, the "Play With Cyberlink PowerDVD" choice does not appear.

I would like to be able to install Windows 8 (UEFI) from an USB drive. I've already tried the usual methods (Microsoft and also some 3rd party tools to create an USB-bootable media), but I got different kind of errors. It seems the image is not compatible with these methods.

I have an Inspiron 14Z 5423, and my hard drive crashed, after running the dell diagnostic tool, it pops up an error code 2000-0142 when it starts analyzing the hard drive, but despite this, i can still access the hard drive using Ubuntu Live DVD ...

Any ways, i noticed there is a second hard drive/partition of 32 GO which i think is supposed to contain the OS image or something similar, so if i buy a new hard drive, could i recover my original windows OS ?!

What is the procedure for walking in a unit to Dell Canada for repair? How do I protect my confidential data? Will Dell repair my two month old machine if i walk in without their OEM hard drive?? I hope to they do. What if it were stolen? I don't care about the cost and don't want anything for free, I just want to get my system working so I can rebuild it. I am only on an iPad.